02 Mar 2016

It has been an interesting few days.

First we had former Republican [Opposite of Frontrunner] candidate for president, Chris Christie endorsing Donald Trump. While a helpful reminder of how low Christie is willing to sink, that was hardly the most shocking event of the weekend.

Then we had another endorsement for Trump, this time by former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke. Given that Trump’s entire campaign can seen as an endorsement of racism, xenophobia, and general bigotry, this was also not particularly surprising. Even less so was Trump’s hesitance to reject said nomination.

Instead what appears to have caused astonishment and celebration across both the country and the twittersphere is the nobility of United States Senator and Participant Ribbon Winner, Marco Rubio. At a campaign rally in Purcellville, Virginia, Rubio stated to rapturous applause, “We cannot be a party that refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan”. The sheer bravery of this man is a profound example for all of us. He stands proud to voice his opposition to the racism that plagues not only this election, but the entire nation. We are all rightly in awe that that he is willing to do this despite the fact that it is an unpopular opinion that may cost him the nomination.

Wait. What do you mean that Rubio is going into Super Tuesday in third place behind the very man that he is attacking? Well, it’s still early in the primary process. Super Tuesday hasn’t even happened yet and surely Rubio’s stance on this could lower his odds there.

Oh. You’re telling me that Trump is polling obscenely well in many of the upcoming primaries and that one of the few hopes at blunting his momentum comes in the form of desperately hoping that suspected Zodiac Killer Ted Cruz wins Texas in a landslide? Okay, this just might not be Rubio’s year. Still, he feels that it is important to use the opportunity he has to speak about how we, as a nation, need to act out against racism and hate speech whenever it appears.

Except, I guess, for the dog-whistle racism that Rubio was happily spouting as recently as the New Hampshire and Iowa primaries. Then, of course, is the fact that Donald Trump has been spewing blatantly racist nonsense since almost the beginning of the campaign and Rubio has been more than content to keep his mouth shut out of a concern that it would be the last nail in the coffin made for his increasingly pathetic political career. One might also point to Rubio’s muteness during the near constant racism that President Obama has faced during the entirety of his presidency at the hands of many prominent Republicans.

So you’re telling me that this is just another example of typical political opportunism coming from a candidate with little to lose and a troubling history that is just a quieter version of exactly what he is pretending to be outraged by? Sigh.